An Irreplaceable Lotus
by Cassandra IV
Summary: Heinous high school drama plagues Syoaran and Sakura's rosy romance in the form of a Taiwanese transfer student from Syoaran's past. Everyone's got a past and future; who will be the one to bear the brunt? Give it a shot guys, and please review for update


Title: An Irreplaceable Lotus

Author: Victoria Tang

Four years ago.

She remembered, on the first day she had stepped foot into Tomoeda High School, she had been late for her ninth grade orientation. High school started a half hour earlier than elementary school had, and unfortunately for her, she had forgotten to change her alarm clock to adjust to this transition.

From that embarrassing moment onwards, usually one would think a lesson would be learned in this whole constant-bowing-and-apologizing procedure to excuse her tardiness, however—

"_Sakura!" _

Kinomoto Touya practically bellowed from the bottom of the staircase. No dice. Sophomore year, and she was still running late for classes. Using his natural brotherly instinct, Touya knew for absolute certain that his younger sister had not even stirred from her deep slumber. That, and with all that snoring…

With an exasperated bang, Touya slammed shut the door to the laundry machine and began to carry the full laundry basket back up the stairs—normally Sakura's duty.

As he fumbled to keep the basket balanced on his hip, Touya rapped the door with his knuckles. "Are you deaf, kid? Your alarm went off ten minutes ago. Dad's already gone, so he won't be able to drive that lazy butt of yours to school if you're late." Glancing at the abnormally large clock just down the hall—he turned back to her bedroom door. "Yeah, did I forget to mention that if you don't wake up in at most two seconds you're going to be _really_ late?"

This time, he paused to listen for any awakening sounds that hinted Sakura regaining consciousness, but just sighed heavily to hear the snores get significantly louder from the other side of the door.

"Come on! Or else I'll take the liberty of eating the lunch Dad made you this morning," Touya threatened. If Sakura was even close to waking up, she was too thick-skulled to ignore a comment like that. "Your breakfast is cold, so I don't want it…"

When no answer greeted him yet again, as expected, he just groaned. "Fine. I'm coming in there, you've been given fair warning…" he threatened, but to no avail. Rolling his eyes all the while shaking his head, Touya just twisted the doorknob and strolled in. Then, as if it were a completely normal thing to do, he took the laundry basket and chucked it at Sakura's head.

"_What are you so worried about?"_

An unfamiliar girl asked in an annoyingly high-pitched, flirtatious voice as she trailed her slender fingers lightly down Syoaran Li's arm. Sakura's eyebrows raised in surprise at the ostentatious way the girl was touching him—just like that. Who _was_ she, and why in the world did she look so… _smug_ in Syoaran's presence?

Stepping forward, Sakura was prepared to act her role as the jealous girlfriend when a single action caused her stomach to come crashing to the ground. Syoaran wrapped his tan, muscular arms around the girl in question in one agonizingly slow motion, then turned and stared right at her.

Was this some sort of sick joke? Sakura felt all the blood rush to her cheeks, and didn't know whether they were burning from disbelief or embarrassment or both. Her gaze quickly dropped to her rounded pink shoes. What was _that_ supposed to mean? Why would he embrace somebody else? In front of her, no less?

As if on cue to replying to her mental demand for an explanation of the situation, the—irritatingly attractive girl looked up at Syoaran, her long eyelashes perfectly framing and accentuating her exotically-rimmed eyes, sparkling like a pair of smoky-grey diamonds.

"_You don't need to be shy. The guilt is gone—it's been how long since we got rid of that horrid girl? I'll be here for you now. All you have to do is look at me."_ The girl leaned in to whisper something, and ended her statement by nibbling gently on his ear.

Sakura stepped backwards, begging herself and all her sanity to allow her to look elsewhere, but something prevented her from doing so. This scene was almost disturbing—should she feel anxious, or angered by these circumstances? Why was she being shown these needless complications? It was clear that although Syoaran looked her way, he couldn't see her. This was a dream.

"_It was for the greater good, Syoaran. It was for our sakes." _Her voice dropped low in an almost seductive tone. "_I crushed her like the insufferable cockroach she is—just the way she deserved to be crushed for getting in our way."_

To Sakura's minimal relief—Syoaran turned away from her and lightly pulled her wrists off of him. "_You don't understand. The Sakura Cards—they represent us. The hard work that Sakura and I had to put into obtaining and transforming those cards—"_ Syoaran cut himself off, obviously feeling… _reluctant_ in some way about this whole situation. Then again, why _shouldn't_ he be reluctant about this? Why wasn't he pushing her away?"

Sakura put a hand to the back pockets of her roomy, boy-sized cargo pants. She had the cards with her wherever she went, so at least that meant _something_. However, when the girl withdrew them from her _own_ pocket, Sakura's eyes nearly bugged out of her head. You could only imagine the panic that overcame her when her heart was sent to hyperdrive as she searched her pockets frantically, and even more so when a chilling emptiness greeted her hand as realization smacked her right in the head.

"_They are no longer the Sakura Cards, Syoaran. They pay allegiance to the name, M-"_

"—Sakura Kinomoto, are you just going to lie there, drowning in clothing?"

Sakura screamed and jerked her head up, fully conscious when her entire body lurched forward as if she were breaking free from a deep slumber. This, in hindsight, was true.

Touya took the basket off of her head and rubbed his chin where she had crashed into him during her hasty jolt when she awoke. "Feisty as usual. You're going to be late. So hurry up and get dressed- your alarm went off fifteen minutes ago."

Suddenly, the real Sakura was back.

In a startled yell, she started screaming yet again while Touya made his way downstairs to fetch himself some earplugs.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-..-.-.-.-.-.-.

"I'm _late!"_ Sakura yelled out in a wail, although she really wasn't- as she snapped off her rollerblades and quickly exchanged them in her locker with her indoor shoes and began running toward her classroom. "Syoaran!"

She was in high hopes of seeing him early that morning. All she needed was one kiss, and the doubt of him she had acquired from her nightmare would inevitably fade away. Without any further hesitation she burst into the classroom. To her surprise, there was already a girl there, one she didn't recognize who was talking to her high school homeroom teacher, Mr. Geruga. They were conversing, and with her sudden outburst, the two of them had turned to stare.

"Oh... my. Good morning, Geruga-sensei." Sakura bowed slightly, a light blush taking color in her cheeks. "Good morning." The second was directed to the new transfer student. She simply just smiled. "I'm sorry to have interrupted."

"Don't be. My name is Gwen," she introduced, a Mandarin accent biting into her Japanese as she shook Sakura's hand. "I just transferred here from Hong Kong. Are you a friend of Syoaran's?"

Sakura nodded her head, relieved that she didn't seem agitated from having her impolitely just burst in on her conversation with the teacher. In fact, Sakura almost figured just then that she'd made a new friend. But how did she know Syoaran? As if replying to her thoughts, Gwen plowed on. "I used to go to his school back in China," she explained. "My full name is Giushoakaisaaru Wen Mu, but I just call myself Gwen. Less complicated."

"I see." Sakura giggled appreciatively at the lengthiness of Gwen's name, before her attention was turned to the door as it slid open—just in time for Syoaran to walk in. "_I _know Syoaran because we've been in the same homeroom for around four years now."

"Hey," Syoaran said, looking a bit taken aback at the newcomer before leaning in to give Sakura a quick peck on the cheek. "This is…?"

"Gwen," Sakura finished, but she couldn't help but sense a hint of shock coming from the girl after that kiss. What was wrong with something so casual? Then she remembered. "Ah, she said you two knew each other. You don't recognize her?"

Gwen shook Syoaran's outstretched hand, but she hardly felt it. This couldn't be happening. Jesus, did this boy ever stay single?

"Oh," Gwen began, clearing her throat and plastering on another beautiful, two-faced smile. "So I take it you two are dating, hm? Taken again, I see. Ever the lady's man." She joked, winking. Sakura cocked her head to the side and squinted at her for a moment. For someone she just met, this girl looked dreadfully familiar. Could she have been the girl from her dream?

…Impossible. Apparently, that girl's name had started with an M. Could it be Meiling?

Again, not possible. The girl's hair in her dream was not nearly long enough to be Meiling's.

A desk and a formal classroom introduction later, Gwen found herself twirling her favorite silver, metal 0.7 lead mechanical pencil around her fingers in perfect rhythm. Her notebook was spread open in front of her, but she had already learned these concepts that Mr. Geruga was currently explaining. This was the academic class? She had learned this eons ago.

Instead of listening to his useless rambling as review, she decided the class would be more productively spent trying to expand any possible scheme…

…For her to get Syoaran Li back.

This time, for good. She wasn't about to let him disappear again—not unless she had something to say about it. Spinning her pencil once more before clicking on the top to bring out about two millimeters worth of lead, Gwen began to use her neat, educated cursive writing in English which the Japanese teacher and students wouldn't be able to comprehend to jot down any interesting point that came to mind.

They say, "You never forget your first love." That was exactly her position in Syoaran's history of girlfriends, however short or long it may be now that she hadn't had contact with him in years. She smiled, reliving the delicious moments of her childhood past. She felt the need to make sure that this Sakura girl who thought she was so fit to be with her Syoaran got a lesson. Rapping the end of her pencil against the surface of the desk in a beat, Gwen ventured deeper into thought.

Even thought Syoaran didn't look it, he was definitely the kind who appreciated social status. Especially the kind of girl with social status that wasn't some brainless, idiotic, dimwitted whore. That was precisely the kind of girl that Gwen wasn't going to be. It definitely didn't hurt that she was new—which made her stand out to begin with. Good.

_It sure doesn't do any more damage, the fact that I happen to be gorgeous. It shouldn't be much of a trouble becoming the popularity butterfly in this pathetic little school. _She chewed on her glossy lower lip thoughtfully. _I'll just have to play it sweet until I get what I want._

Her favorite tale in Aesop's stories was the one about the tortoise and the hare. Slow and steady wins the race. Sakura may think she's ahead and secure now with Syoaran, but all that was about to change.

_If there's one piece of advice I'd give to front-runners in this world, _she thought as she looked tentatively up at Mr. Geruga who was double-checking to see if any of this was over her head,_ It'd be: Watch your back._

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The day was long and dreary by the time fourth period rolled along.

"Lunch! Oh, thank God. I don't want to look at another quadratic equation ever again. Notice how the homework is always so shockingly repetitive?" Sakura stretched out her right arm, the fingers of her left hand intertwining with Syoaran's digits. As she lowered her arm, she eyed him, whose hands were both empty. "Not a big eater…? Where's your lunch?"

Sitting down on a ledge, Syoaran somehow withdrew a packaged bun from his pocket—bought somewhere from a bakery. This boy's family was worth millions and he was living off of a 99 cent meal. Sakura just made a face and nibbled contently on her own homemade sandwich, packed by her father. Her last for a short while considering her father had gone on a business trip in Beijing for the next three weeks.

Behind them, Gwen was loitering around the school doors with a gaggle of so-called friends she had happened to attract, when she finally caught sight of the two—practically melting together by the trees like lovesick fleabags. Disgusting.

Deciding to take some action, Gwen excused herself from her buddies and slung her shoulder bag over her neck before taking a running start across the yard and whacking Syoaran lightly on the shoulder, displaying the surprise element.

"You_ are_ him! I knew you looked familiar!" She exclaimed as she plopped down on his other side, making a distinct point not to acknowledge Sakura's presence. Then her face fell. "Oh," she began, touching her lip thoughtfully, almost apologetically in such a way that no one could resist forgiving her. "I'm not… interrupting anything, am I?"

Suddenly, Syoaran's jaw dropped open. "_Giu-chan?"_ He asked tentatively, just to make sure. When he saw that familiar bright, wide smile, he started laughing as she stretched her arms out and they broke out into an impromptu hug, full of laughs and smiles.

"My God, Li! You've grown so much. I'd never _thought_ we'd ever end up at the same high school. I knew you were in Tokyo too, but the same _school_, too? Unbelievable! We're in the same homeroom, no less!"

Breaking apart from her, Sakura could have sworn she saw the same twinkle in his eyes that she was sure he shared only with her. "I didn't even know you were coming to Tokyo. No one told me about it. I would've picked you up from the airport or something."

Feeling rather awkward, Sakura stood up and gathered her things. Gwen smiled, stealing a glance at Sakura. At first, she had thought Sakura was rather cute, and friendly. But now—

Plain. Plain, plain, pain.

That's all Sakura Kinomoto seemed to be compared to an absolute jewel like Gwen. Of course, none of this was due to the fact that she was biased. Nope.

"Um, Syoaran?" Sakura asked kindly, turning over to her boyfriend. "I'm going to talk to Tomoyo. I'm sure you have lots to catch up on." With that, she quickly skittered towards her best friend, who seemed surprised to have Sakura confront her when she should be in Syoaran's company.

Ah, well. The more time with him for her.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"Well, before the bunch of you start chucking something insane like papers and rocks at me," Mr. Geruga began, bending over his desk putting his hands on both ends of it and leaning forward. "I'll remind you that I don't come up with the curriculum. That being said, I'm going to have to say you guys are going to be assigned your summative." He seemed absolutely shocked that the class remained silent without even a single complaint. "You'll work in fours, and the topic will be something fantasy-based. A myth or legend, preferably. Display your best English, since this is practice for your culminating report."

After tapping his finger twice on the wooden surface of his desk, the class erupted into loud pandemonium.

Syoaran laughed at the punchline of Yamasaki's joke. He actually hadn't heard a single thing his best friend had said; he couldn't even pick out Yamasaki's voice from the din. As the class began to settle down, Syoaran was finally able to make himself heard.

"Okay, so our usual group: there's you, Sakura, and me. I want Gwen to be in the group— she's my old friend from HK—but Sakura probably wants Tomoyo, so I'm not too sure how we'd be able to go about this."

Yamasaki frowned. "That's true, you're right. This is a sticky situation- Tomoyo's got just as much right to be in this group as I do. We're both best friends of the real couple."

Sakura meandered over to Syoaran's desk, sitting delicately on a corner. "Hey, we're in a group, right?" She asked, tracing small infinity signs on his desk.

"Aren't we always?" Syoaran retorted smugly. Then he turned around. "Gwen! Over here!"

Sakura looked up in surprise as Gwen got up—almost as if she were expecting him to invite her in— and made her way over. "What's going on?" She asked in a quiet whisper, "Just what are we going to do about Tomo-chan?"

"Syoaran, can I talk to you for a second?" Yamasaki asked, and practically dragged Syoaran to the side to avoid this whole girl-exclusion situation.

As if on cue to make things much more devastating, Tomoyo came up next to Sakura. "I've been thinking about the possible topics, and I've got this great idea about Greek mythology…" as if she were a completely different person, Gwen laid one perfectly manicured hand hard on the table.

"So sorry, Daidouji-san. Our group's already _been_ decided." She added with a sinister grin, "You're just going to have to take your idea elsewhere."

Tomoyo's mouth dropped open a little, perhaps from a gasp at her change in personality—perhaps to say something, but she closed it shortly nonetheless. "O…Oh, I'm sorry, I just thought—"

"Hey! What on earth is your problem?" Sakura defended, her big, brilliant green eyes turning into a harsh glare for behaving this way towards her best friend. The optimistic light had faded from Tomoyo's eyes, and her excited expression had turned into—was that…?—a grim look? It was only for a moment, because in another second another bright smile was up on Tomoyo's face.

"Oh, don't worry about it, then. I'll just double up with somebody else." She added more or less enthusiastically than usual, trying to sound as upbeat as possible before turning on her heel and curtly walking towards the mob of people that were the class.

"I know that may have seemed a bit rude," Gwen began in her usual, sweet tone as Syoaran and Yamazaki came by to tell them that they were going to discuss with Mr. Geruga possible topics for their presentation. "I'm not trying to act prissy, it's just—I want to be with Li as much as possible. Speaking of which-- is it true that you two are… _serious?"_

Sakura turned a beet red in color almost immediately. An obvious no. "What? No—No way. We're just going steady!"

_Just steady. How plain. _As _if_ she should have expected anything more than that.

"Oh, I see." Gwen said nonchalantly, looking down at her nails. Sakura raised an eyebrow. "What about you? I see the two of you have some sort of history that surpasses ordinary friendship."

"Yeah, I guess." Gwen said finally, and chewed her lower lip with uncertainty, yet Sakura almost thought she could see a faint trace of smugness. "It is not my intention to… stir things up between the two of you. You know, just when you two are beginning to get relatively close."

Trying her best to shrug off the fact that they were close even four years ago, Sakura hesitated for a moment. The way she said those words—it sounded so _shocking._ She had been curious since minute one about Syoaran's relationship with Gwen, and even more so now that they appeared so close—too close for comfort.

Not that she was worried about her position as Syoaran's girlfriend, mind you. But he seemed just like the type she'd assume he'd like…

"We used to… be together." Gwen said, shrugging lightly as she looked down at the desk. Picking up Syoaran's black pen, she began to doodle her signature on an empty page of his notebook over and over. "Actually, we were engaged as well—but that was set up by our parents."

The breath caught in Sakura's throat—_engaged?_ But if they were just little kids at the time, it couldn't have been so bad… right?

"You could say that the arranged marriage was partly formed from us. Syoaran and I were in love even before the engagement was set up, so our parents decided to take advantage of it and use us as a merger for our two businesses. Our parents have been close family friends ever since."

She'd be lying if she said that hearing Gwen speak about Syoaran as a lover—if even in the past—didn't unnerve her. Sakura crossed her arms and rubbed them vigorously, just listening to this gave her the chills. But hadn't she asked for this? She had asked to know, but—learning this from Gwen seemed improper.

Just then, Gwen leaned over on the desk and drummed her nails on the surface of the table. "Hey, you wield the Clow Cards, don't you? So that means I can talk about them?"

Sakura's eyebrows raised and she swore her heart skipped a beat in panic. "How did—"

Leaning back, Gwen swept a hand in front of her face, as if telling her she knew all about it. "Oh, please. My family and Syoaran's family has known about them for generations. An old friend of mine—Meiling—was the one who broke our engagement. To have Syoaran move here to Tokyo, so that he could look for those cards as the descendant. We never cut the strings—it just _happened._ I guess it's a bit late for me to renew our relationship, since you're with him and all. Looks like I'll just have to sit and wait."

Although it was put nicely enough, Sakura couldn't help but look at the small details of Gwen's words. Sit and _wait?_ Wait for what? She had absolutely no intention of ending things with Syoaran. Close to ever.

"Anyway, I feel silly for rambling on." Gwen looked past Sakura's shoulder and got up. "I'll talk to you later, okay? I think Syoaran's looking for me." In a blink, she disappeared across the classroom. Sakura furrowed her eyebrows as she walked along towards Tomoyo to apologize.

Looking for 'her?' Where'd she get off, saying something like that? If Syoaran were looking for somebody, chances are it would be her. However, when she caught sight of Syoaran, she was almost surprised to see that he looked like he _was_ searching for somebody. Shocked when she saw a look of pure relief spread over his face when he found Gwen approaching him, the two of them walked back to their table—and he gallantly offered the chair that Sakura had previously been sitting on, beside him.

He knew how she easily worried about the silliest things. If Gwen really was such a big piece of his life—

How could he keep something like this from her?

The walk home with Syoaran was silent and awkward. At least, for her it was. All Syoaran could do was talk about Gwen, and how much they needed to catch up, and how he would take her to all the amazing places in Tokyo.

It wasn't until they reached his house to start on the research component of their project that Syoaran slammed the door to his bedroom shut and turned around to face her. "So, why are you avoiding me?" He asked matter-of-factly, trying to find some indication in her eyes.

"Do you really need to ask? Why didn't you tell me? About you and Gwen's relationship?" Sakura asked bitterly, trying to keep the anger from her voice. "It's not like I keep secrets from you. It's obvious that Gwen still wants you, and I don't think it's fair that _you_ get to—"

--Outside of the room where she was screaming her lungs out like there was no tomorrow, Gwen reached the exterior of Syoaran's unnaturally large home. So this was like it was like in Tokyo, hm? She knew his family was loaded, and she wasn't exactly used to 'modest' homes herself, but this was just _huge._

Knocking politely on Syoaran's door, she was subsequently invited in by an elderly butler. Obediently the man obliged to her request to show her to the young master's room, having recognized her from serving his family back in China. After thanking him, she knocked once on the door, before noticing she could hear just about everything going on inside.

"Come on Sakura, I didn't think it was worth mentioning. It'd only make you worry, and make an unnecessary fuss about it. And you're proving just my point by acting this way!" Syoaran was yelling back, "you don't even _know_ Gwen!"

Sakura's eyes were wide, like a wounded puppy dog, as she was backed up against the wall—probably speechless since Syoaran had never spoken to her this way. Come to think of it, Gwen couldn't think of any other time she'd seen him speak the way he was. Stepping backwards, Sakura bumped clumsily into Syoaran's desk, several of the Sakura Cards fluttering to the ground from her uniform's pocket. Too upset to even notice, Sakura darted from his room as fast as she could— taking the exit route through his joint washroom. She was presumably aiming to get out of his house, as well, but Gwen wasn't about to follow her to make sure.

"That went well," she mused quietly as she twisted the doorknob and pushed it open. Syoaran whirled around in surprise to find her standing over by his doorframe. "Uncle Fei let me in." She set her bag down on the ground and sat down on the mattress. "She really didn't know… huh? I'm hurt. You never told her about me?"

"So you're the one who told her," Syoaran said, exasperated as he flopped down on the bed beside her. Gwen just shrugged. "She's the one who asked about us. I figured it would do no harm to tell her. Besides, otherwise she'd just suspect me for liking you if I kept hanging around you like I did today. Seriously, if she's so upset at you for having a past, is she _really_ the girl you love?"

Syoaran rolled onto his stomach and closed his eyes, suddenly feeling very tired. "I thought so…" he slurred sleepily, before falling into a faint slumber.

Gwen smiled down at his face, looking almost childish and perfect—what with the setting sun sending several orange rays of light onto his soft face. Curling up beside him, she closed her eyes and joined his dreams.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

What was the boy _thinking?_

The same traitorous thoughts were still harboring Sakura's mind as she sadly entered the classroom the next day with a couple of new materials for her project. She glanced over at Syoaran, who was over on the computer looking up information that should have been completed the afternoon before. Gwen was looking over his shoulder, with one hand on his thigh to hold her up as she leaned over to peer at the computer desk. As Sakura approached, she knelt back over the ground and continued to glue a bunch of pictures onto a board. The Clow Cards were an ancient Chinese myth, which was the main topic of their project. Sakura, spirits brightening over the progress of their assignment, admired the way Gwen's cards looked nearly identical to her Sakura Cards. She then watched as Syoaran got up and left the room, probably for a washroom break, which gave her plenty of time to talk to Gwen.

That was, until she felt the pull of a powerful aura. Her eyes were then drawn to those cards—that looked—well, almost real.

_Too_ real.

"Oh my God!" Screamed Sakura, lunging forward. "What's your problem? Those cards are mine!" She grabbed at the poster, delicately taking the cards off of the drying poster. Gwen looked appalled and attempted to slap her hands off.

"What in God's name are you doing, Kinomoto? Don't you dare touch my poster!"

Sakura glared hard at her, outrage and fury rising from within her, despite her usual, cheery self. "Listen to me. Those happen to be _my cards_, and you know it. If you're not going to give them to me, I'm going to _take_ them back!"

"Is that so?" Gwen shouted, when a taunting grin crept over her face. Her eyes never leaving Sakura's face, she stood up and poured yet another glob of white, crazy glue over the back of another card in her hand. Sakura stood mortified as she watched Gwen pour that… _stuff_ over her precious legends.

"I told you to _stop_ that!" Sakura grabbed at the cards still lying on the table beside her, and snatched the gluey mix from Gwen's grasp, taking several paper towels off the counter to the side and wiping off as much of the offenders as she possibly could. Gwen watched in faked horror as Sakura took the rest of the cards from the Bristol board, ripping around the board so that she would be able to slowly detach the cards later. Sakura glanced up to see her eyes shimmering with—was that _pleasure?_ No, impossible—how could she seem satisfied with Sakura ripping her project apart? It must have been anger she saw, yet…

"Are you trying to pick a fight with me?" Gwen yelled, grabbing Sakura's wrist with surprising strength. "You just ruined our project! You _want_ to fail? Then fail by yourself! You didn't do a single thing to contribute, and yet you wreck it, just like that?"

Syoaran, who had come back to the classroom, was immediately stripped of his attention as he watched in horror at Gwen and Sakura wrestling each other for the custody of the... wait, the Sakura Cards?

Syoaran took one step forward to get inbetween the two of them—when something made him pause and nearly stumble. It was true he needed to help one of them, but who was he to help? Who was the cause of this?

Just then Gwen whirled around to the door and caught sight of Syoaran. He couldn't just stand there when they knew he was there, so he jogged over just in time for tears to trickle artfully down her pale cheeks—somehow playing the role of the wounded puppy—and unimaginably well. "I'm sorry, Li." She whispered quietly to him. She looked back to Sakura, who was standing a fair meter behind her, fists clenched at her sides. "I really can't handle this." Pushing the chair in front of her aside, she brushed past him as she ran out of the room.

Sakura stared at the open door in awe as Gwen left. She was _quite_ the actress. After all that, her little scheme played Sakura out to be the antagonist.

Syoaran looked from the door and turned to face Sakura angrily, kicking the chair Gwen had pushed out of the way to the side perhaps as a warning before turning and sprinting out of the classroom after Gwen, as fast as his long legs would carry him.

Sakura leaned back against the computer desk for support as she felt her legs weaken. _What the hell was __**that?**_She thought in disbelief, her mouth slightly agape. He hadn't wanted her to stop Gwen? Gwen, who had nearly destroyed the cards that she and Syoaran had worked so hard to attain and transform together?

Just then, the loud bell signaling the end of class rang overhead of her, and her gaze dropped to the cards in her hands. Apologizing to both her startled classmates and the awed teacher standing nearby, she slowly took off her bag and kneeled onto the floor, slipping the outstanding cards back in with the rest of the deck when she took out a photo of Syoaran and her—one she always kept with her. He had a matching one in his wallet.

_I can't lose you, Syoaran. I can't give you up. I won't._

She knew it was petty, but she had never felt more strongly of anything in her life.

"Kinomoto-_san_." Sakura felt Gwen's powerful presence behind her even before she turned around to face her. "I implore you to give me back those cards while still given an option."

"No." Sakura replied curtly, drawing the finishing designs of tarot cards onto a Bristol board for her own separated project with Tomoyo and Saki. Where did this girl get off, anyway, ordering her around? They weren't friends. They were barely even acquaintances.

"Oh, don't be such a priss. I already know the history behind those cards. Even a simple girl like you should be able to see by now that Syoaran has feelings for me."

"Shut up."

"Say whatever you want now, but just remember: I hope you didn't _actually_ think you could ever snag a guy like Syoaran for good. Like I'd ever let a plain, ordinary-looking girl like you get him. And with competition like _me_ around here now, you have even less of a chance."

Sakura got up, her eyes emotionless as she looked Gwen hard in the face. Picking up her board, she rolled it up, her eyes never leaving Gwen, before flicking them in the direction of the clock on the wall. "Ooh. Look at the time. Get gone."

With that, Sakura herself walked quickly towards the exit of the school on her way home, with a confidence that she had never seen herself use before.

God.

How _completely_ messed up.

The last thing she would have imagined that would happen between Syoaran and her would be this—a third member threatening to mess the two of them up. And here she thought everything was so perfect. Sakura sighed as she turned on her way up to Penguin Park. _I guess I am just plain and ordinary, like Gwen says._ She thought, just a bit sadly as she compared herself to the other girls in school—adorned in fancy jewelry and excessive makeup. _I guess it'd be easy for someone like Syoaran to get tired of me._

Gwen was exciting. She was exotic and new, plus she had Syoaran had shared some chemistry in the past that never truly disappeared. She looked up from the gravel and froze. Syoaran was in the center of the park, conversing quietly with Gwen again. How on earth did that horrid girl manage to walk so fast ahead of her, anyway? And find Syoaran, no less? He was pushing her gently on a swing, with a kind of gentleness that made her stomach queasy.

She had no desire to confront either of them, much less interrupt them. Slowly, she inched her way around them, however within a radius that allowed her to eavesdrop in her position, even thought it was not her intention.

"I cannot believe this. I can't believe _her."_ Gwen was saying as Syoaran gave her another push. "How are we supposed to finish our project without those cards? She's definitely trying to provoke me."

Syoaran remained speechless for a short while. The finally he spoke up. "Those cards—there's more to them than you might think. They're more than just entities of power." He reasoned. "You shouldn't try to use them as a subject for our project. You said our topic would be interesting and safe. Stealing Sakura's personal objects aren't fair."

"This summative is due tomorrow!" Gwen exclaimed, stepping into the sand to stop the swing from moving as she whirled around to face him, her eyes open and seemingly honest. "I'd finished everything else—no thanks to her. All we needed were no cards. I tried asking her for a copy of them today, but she wouldn't oblige to such a simple request. I asked her today—and she snapped at me."

_Oh, clever. You did not. _Sakura thought sourly. _Bitch._

"Is that so?" Syoaran asked, his eyebrows pointed downward in confusion. "Sakura never exactly struck me as the type to be so…. inflexible. Perhaps I should try to get you back on her good side. After all, we've got a project due."

Gwen didn't respond to that. She just smiled flirtatiously, making Sakura feel incredibly ill as she crept behind the bushes. She could see the pathway leading to her house from here. Giving one last glance at the two of them, she caught them just in time to see Gwen move in a comfortable position and, without any further notice, kiss Syoaran.

Syoaran's mind seemed to scatter momentarily. He could remember how it was like... to kiss Gwen. It had been ages, and it felt so... _real._

Wait. But what about Sakura?

Sure, the two of them had been through much together, but between her and Gwen, he wasn't so sure Sakura would be the one he'd choose. After all, ever since Gwen arrived she's been acting so... iffy. At the moment, he was leaning to Gwen rather than Sakura. He deepened the kiss, and ended up holding her in a passionate embrace that sent shivers up Sakura's spine.

"..."

This seemed too much to bear. If they _were_ going to do something like _that_, why do it in a park that Syoaran _knew_ Sakura would encounter on her way home? Did he _want_ her to see that? Sakura tried to get out of there as quickly as possibly, but she had to cut through onto the pavement. When she did, the heels of her feet made a distinct clacking sound on the stone path. Syoaran opened his eyes and caught sight of her. Immediately, he broke the kiss and pulled apart from Gwen

_Sakura...!_ He thought, beginning to panic. He scrambled back onto his feet and began to give chase, who had already started jogging to get away from them faster when Gwen stopped him by pulling back on her left wrist. She was still as strong as ever.

"Choose, Li." She whispered sternly, as Sakura ran out of sight, making the distance between the two of them even greater. "Her or me?"


End file.
